President John Mahama has reiterated government’s commitment to establishing a new university in the Eastern region saying the university will help tackle some of the climate change challenges facing the nation.
Over 150 people lost their lives after torrential rain on Wednesday flooded the capital Accra and also sparked a fire at the GOIL fuel station.
However, according to the President, the University for Sustainable Environmental Studies and Applied Research, as it will be known when built, will provide much needed knowledge on the environment and climate to help prevent disasters like last Wednesday’s.
Analysts have argued that the government’s interest would be better served by upgrading existing universities but President Mahama believes the new university would offer something vital to the nation’s development.
“I’m happy that this has been presented today because there is concern about issues to do with climate change and we need a university that is studying an environment and helping in adaptation to climate change, President Mahama said.
“We’ve just gone through a very harrowing experience with the flooding that took place recently and I believe that there are many other aspects of our environment that are changing that we need to continue to research and find solutions to,” he added.
President Mahama made these remarks when the Planning Committee which was set up for the establishment of the University presented its report to him at the Flagstaff House.
New University will aid youth employment
According to the convener of the planning committee, Dr. Christine Amoako-Nuamah, the new university will help address pertinent issues concerning the environment, food security and youth employment.
“We took cognizance of the difficulties of food security, not just in Ghana but in our sub-region and perhaps the continent as a whole. We took cognizance of the climate change issues and agricultural impacts on the environment. So we looked at all of these and then in the area of young people requiring to be employed and they finding employment for themselves,” Dr. Amoako-Nuamah explained.
Source: citifmonline.com
